Pelosi, using cautious language around the word "crisis," labeled the problem an "opportunity" for America to demonstrate its values. Many of the children have been kept in shocking conditions as federal officials scrambled to provide them basic necessities.

"This is a community with a border going through it. And this crisis — that some call a 'crisis' — we have to view as an opportunity," Pelosi told reporters at a press conference.

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Pelosi stressed the children involved are worthy of basic human respect as they are being moved "as quickly as possible into another setting."

"What we just saw was so stunning. If you believe as we do that every child, that every person, has a spark of divinity in them and is therefore worthy of respect, what we saw in those rooms was [a] dazzling, sparkling array of God's children, worthy of respect. So ... we have to use the crisis — that some view as a crisis, and it does have crisis qualities — as an opportunity to show who we are as Americans, that we do respect people for their divinity and worth," she said.